Below: Before and After Images in Slide Show, Video, Summary, Credits
The Finnish Sports Gala (Urheilugaala) celebrates the highlights of the past year in Finnish sports. The gala offers a two hour sports saturated experience for passionate fans, culminating in the awarding of the Best Athlete of the Year. The Finnish Sports Gala plays a vital role in raising the value of exercise and sports throughout the nation.
The gala strives to be the definite authority and opinion leader in the Finnish sports world, the same way the Oscars are in the movie industry.
A rebrand of the gala was needed because the brand had lost its focus and the visual identity of the gala was outdated. The visual appearance of the gala was no longer relevant or credible and the gala did not have a consistent strategy for marketing communications.
The aim of the rebrand was to target new audiences, especially younger audiences, that will be established over time through maintenance of a high quality communication. The brand identity would be improved and the visual identity modernized.
The gala’s purpose is encapsulated in one sentence – We strive to raise the value of sports and exercise throughout the nation. It works as the basis for all of the gala’s future actions. At the heart of the identity is the Uno trophy. The seven lines of the symbol represent the seven key values of the gala. In the logotype the key values underline the brand.
A cornerstone of the brand communications are the series of “Moment before the moment” – stories behind great moments in Finnish Sports. This series functions as a key message, which is spread through multi-channel marketing, drawing the attention of various focus groups and highlighting different sports.
Following the launch, the new identity has received overwhelmingly positive feedback and attention for it’s fresh and modern touch. A positive response was also received from various athletes and individuals across sport media. The more concrete results were seen in the statistics regarding the live show – people following via TV from home doubled from 1 million to two million viewers and ticket sales grew 50%. The Most Thrilling Sports Moment of the year is chosen by public vote. After the rebranding the voting grew by 5000%.
Client: Suomen Urheilugaala ry – www.urheilugaala.fi
Head Secretary: Riia Martinoja
Brand Strategists/Designers: Kobra – www.kobraagency.com
Designers: Tuukka Koivisto, James Zambra
Project Management: Annika Hämäläinen
Event Marketing: Mika Sulin, Starsquad Oy
Motion Design: Mikko Mällinen (Kiwi Films) & Kobra
Brand Photography/Film: Carl Bergman, Eino Manner, Henri Juvonen, Pasi Salminen, Risto Musta, Ezra Gould Freelance: Paavo Lehtonen
